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Chris Christie wishes CPAC ‘all the best’

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie might have been snubbed by the Conservative Political Action Conference, but he wishes CPAC “all the best.”

“So I didn’t know that I hadn’t been invited to CPAC until like two days ago when I saw it in the news,” Christie (R-N.J.) said in a clip posted on his YouTube page Wednesday, his first comments on CPAC since news broke this week that Christie was not invited to speak. “So, yeah, apparently I haven’t been invited. Listen, I wish them all the best. They’re gonna have their conference, they’re gonna have a bunch of people speaking there, they don’t want to invite me, that’s their call. It’s their organization, it’s their business and they get to decide who they want to have come and not come.”

Charles Krauthammer: Chris Christie CPAC snub a mistake

“It’s not like I’m lacking for invitations to speak, both here or around the country, it’s not like I have a whole lot of openings in my schedule,” Christie said. He added, referencing the damage to his state wrought by Superstorm Sandy, “I can’t sweat the small stuff. I got a state to rebuild. I can’t sweat the small stuff.”

Former Sen. Rick Santorum was asked about Christie’s CPAC snub on CNN on Wednesday. Santorum declined to comment on the organization’s decision but said that it just showed how diverse the Republican party is.

“My feeling is… the great thing about the Republican Party is unlike the Democratic Party, there is a fair amount of diversity in our party. You guys on CNN, as well as other networks, spend a lot of time talking about the divisions in the Republican Party and then you make the claim, well you know, the Democratic Party is the more inclusive party,” Santorum said. “Well, wait a minute. There is no division in Democratic Party, you don’t talk about any divisions in the Democratic Party, so who is the real inclusive party and who isn’t?”

The former lawmaker then went on to express his hopes that the CPAC conference will become a rallying point for all conservatives to bounce off.

“We’re going to have a big presence of organization patriot voices there…we’re going to be doing a lot of things to talk and try to rally conservatives at a time when, as you look over my shoulder and look at that Capitol, you don’t see a lot of conservatives standing up and fighting for the principles that made our country great. Hopefully we can rally at that CPAC conference and move out from there,” Santorum said.